Young Stars time is almost upon us!
Rosters for all four teams were announced on Tuesday. Here's the list for the Canucks:
As we knew going in, the brightest names in the tournament will be on the opposing squads. Vancouver has no first-round draft picks in the mix. The other three teams all have at least two.
Just two of Vancouver's six draft picks from Montreal in July will be suiting up: goalie Ty Young, who was selected in fifth round from the Prince George Cougars and defenseman Kirill Kudryavtsev, their seventh-rounder from the Soo Greyhounds of the OHL.
Young was on the ice at UBC for Development Camp in July, but this will be our first look at Kudryavtsev, a 6'0", 200-pound left-shot blueliner who looks to have some playmaking chops. In his first year of North American hockey last season, the native of Yaroslavl, Russia put up five goals and 34 assists for the Greyhounds, with 12 of those points coming on the power play. That seems pretty solid for a draft-eligible player, so it'll be interesting to see if that skill shows through in Penticton this weekend.
As for the Canucks' other draft picks — of course, Jonathan Lekkerimaki and Elias Pettersson the defender are back in Sweden. Fourth-rounder Daimon Gardner, a big centre, will be returning to the Tri-City Storm of the USHL and sixth-rounder Jackson Dorrington is set for his freshman season at Northeastern. A left-shot defenseman, he'll be teammates with Vancouver's 2019 seventh-rounder Aidan McDonough, who is serving as the Huskies' captain for his senior year.
Two of the six players from Vancouver's class of 2021 will also be in Penticton. We know about Danila Klimovich, who I expect will challenge Linus Karlsson for the title of brightest star on the Canucks' roster. Also suiting up — sixth-rounder Connor Lockhart, the diminutive centre who put up 23 goals and 48 points with the OHL's Erie Otters last season.
Not in Penticton: the Finnish goalie Koskenvuo, who's on his way to Harvard, and the three Swedes — defensemen Jonathan Myrenberg and Hugo Gabrielson and forward Lucas Forsell.
The Class of 2020 will not be represented at all. Joni Jurmo is back in Finland, as is defenseman Viktor Persson, who spent last season with the Kamloops Blazers but has signed on the with the Pelicans in Liiga this year — where he's teammates with one-time Canucks prospect Toni Utunen.
Defenseman Jacob Truscott is a junior at Michigan this season, while forward Jackson Kunz is set for his sophomore season at the University of North Dakota. And Dmitry Zlodeyev looks to have fully graduated to the KHL, where he's suiting up for Spartak in Moscow.
The Class of 2019, of course, has already graduated two players to the NHL — Vasily Podkolzin and Nils Hoglander. Two other members of that nine-person group are on the roster for Penticton: Abbotsford alumnae Carson Focht and Arturs Silovs.
I'm a little surprised not to see the name of winger Karel Plasek on the list. He also made his North American debut with Abbotsford last season, but suffered a serious knee injury after just five games. He returned to the lineup for three games in late February and early March, but didn't see any action after that or in the playoffs, so I wonder if he had a setback or another injury?
Plasek was signed to a three-year entry-level deal by the Canucks in June of 2021, so he is still under contract with the organization.
One draft class to go — as 2018 second-rounder Jett Woo returns to Penticton as the only player on the Canucks' roster who also took part last time the tournament was played, in his draft year.
You may remember, that was the coming-out party for fellow rookies Elias Pettersson and Jonathan Dahlen, in a truncated three-team, four-game tournament that also included the Jets and the University of Alberta.
Now 22, Woo's second pro season was also complicated by injuries last season. He put up two goals, eight points and 35 penalty minutes in 42 games with Abbotsford, but found himself filling in as a fourth-line winger by season's end.
Woo has played 70 pro games so far, all at the AHL level. He'll be waiver-exempt for the last time this season, as he plays out the final year of his entry-level contract, so it's now or never for the right-shot defenseman who has not yet been able to realize his potential.
As for the other names on the roster — you should recognize a bunch of them from Abbotsford. Some of the new faces earmarked for the AHL squad this fall include the three that I went over in my
last blog — Nils Aman, Arshdeep Bains and Karlsson, as well as new defensemen Quinn Schmiemann and Chad Nychuk and forward Marc Gatcomb. They're all signed to AHL contracts, and you can read more about them
here.
Of the invitees, the most intriguing name for me is Brett Brochu — the 20-year-old London Knights goalie who won a gold medal with Team Canada at World Juniors this summer. He didn't get into any games in the August tournament, but did see one start before the original 2022 tournament was cancelled last winter.
At 6'0" and 176 pounds, Brochu doesn't tick the size box that is virtually non-negotiable for NHL goalies these days, which is most likely why he has gone undrafted. But Ian Clark and his team seem to see something in him — he was at development camp in July and has now been invited back for the Penticton tournament.
I'll have more on the other invitees and the action from Penticton as we get rolling. The Canucks are expected to practice on Thursday in Penticton ahead of Friday's date with the Calgary Flames at 7:30 p.m. PT.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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